It was her first day on the job, and Spirit was loving it. She'd been shown how to groom horses, and had been spending the last fifteen chimes on a mare with a particularly knotted tail. She was using a large comb, and was attempting to drag it through the tangled mess. With attempted as the key word. Every time she stuck the comb in it's hair, it was a challenge just to remove it again, let alone actually more it through the tail. If this Vantha was one to swear, she would have done so, several times over at least. Luckily, the horse she was working on was calm and quiet, quite content to let the young groom fight against it's unruly hair. She glared at it, in an attempt to mentally force it to untangle, to no success.
Finally, it came to her. Instead of starting in the middle, she began at the bottom or the tail, using short quick strokes to slowly untangle the hair from the end up. This task took another fifteen chimes, but was much more satisfying than before. With a slight grin, finally finished, she put down the comb with a flourish and hopped up. What a mistake... from all that crouching on the stool with her legs bent in an awkward position, her thighs had cramped up to an extreme. Grunting slightly, she limped her way out of the stall, ignoring the mare's curious gaze behind her.
She took a seat on a fence near the door of the barn and stretched her legs out. Man they hurt. Spirit sat there for a while, gazing at the snow outside, and watching the activity inside the barn as well. One curious thing that caught her eye was a woman, who went into the barn, obviously not a groom, and brushed down a few of the horses. Though warned only to touch the mares, she went straight up to the most unruly stallion in the whole stables. She watched the events occur with fascination, and laughed when she saw the conclusion of their encounter.
In fact, the Vantha laughed so hard she fell off the bench. Painfully. Though it knocked the wind out of her, it left her gasping for breath for a few seconds, before resuming her laughter again. It had been hilarious! She shook her head to clear the mirth, and taking deep breaths to halt the laughing, she heaved herself up from the ground, and leaned back on the fence. She gazed at the woman, attempting to come up with a way to greet her, still stifling giggles. Coming to a conclusion, she walked closer to the failed-groom and poked her in the shoulder.
"That. Was. HILARIOUS!" She exclaimed, and burst out laughing again. She clutched her chest, continuing through the pain of the mirth, and barely managed not to fall over again. She didn't really care what the woman thought or saw, the whole this was just so funny! |
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